Naughty Dog Was Split Over The Last of Us Part 2's Joel Death

A former Naughty Dog developer says Joel's death in The Last of Us Part 2 was not only explosive for players, it was controversial inside the studio as well.

Major spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 follow.

Former Naughty Dog artist Heather Cerlan was asked by Kiwi Talkz whether the team knew the sequel, and Joel's death in particular, would provoke a strong reaction. Cerlan indicated the studio did know the choice would be divisive, saying many developers questioned the decision.

"Oh yeah, most of the studio was like, 'really you're going to...'"

Cerlan stopped short of spelling out the scene in the quoted moment, but then said the team was not of one mind about where the story went.

"I think the studio was pretty split on the outcome of what happens."

She added: "It was controversial internally, too."

The moment in question arrives early in The Last of Us Part 2, when Abby, a member of the Washington Liberation Front, beats Joel to death with a golf club. It was a bold narrative break from the first game's player attachment to Joel and Ellie, and it became the center of the sequel's backlash well before launch after major story details leaked.

That backlash also crossed far beyond normal criticism. Abby actor Laura Bailey later said in the Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2 documentary that she received death threats and threats of violence, including threats aimed at her infant son.

Naughty Dog has carried the weight of that reaction into its next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Actress Tati Gabrielle has said Neil Druckmann prepared her for the possibility of online hostility ahead of her role as bounty hunter Jordan A Mun, telling her to ignore it and focus on making something they were proud of.

Cerlan's comments do not change the story Naughty Dog shipped, but they do underline how risky the choice felt even before players got their hands on the sequel. Five years later, Joel's death is still one of the clearest examples of a studio choosing a painful story turn knowing it could split its own audience.